Santa Cruz County Bank’s new exhibit opens Friday

"The Weight of Starlight," an oil on wood panel piece by Andrea Borsuk, is on display at the Santa Cruz County Bank's Watsonville branch for the "In Dreams" exhibit.

WATSONVILLE — For its latest exhibit, the Santa Cruz County Bank challenged six artists to search their subconscious, pulling out images they can only find in their dreams and craft them in the physical realm.

It is only fitting that the exhibit’s title is “In Dreams.”

The show, co-curated by Joan Blackmer and Mary Anne Carson, features the work of six local artists: Karen Kvenvold Bailey, Andrea Borsuk, Selena Castro, Chris Miroyan, Sharon King and Tom Trujillo. It opens Friday and will run through April 26.

More than 90 pieces of work from a variety of media fill the bank’s five locations in Watsonville, Aptos, Capitola, Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley.

“That is my approach,” Trujillo said about the dream-like theme of the exhibit. “I like to draw from memories. I try to use as few props and photographs as possible.”

Trujillo, a longtime surfer, said many of his dreams have to do with tidal waves and other ocean-related events.

Rather than find a photograph of a wave, Trujillo, a La Selva Beach resident, said he prefers to imagine what it looks like from his memories. After adding his own unique take to it, that image is then transferred to a pastel painting, for example.

Capitola artist Castro said the theme of the exhibit was a perfect fit for her artistic style.

“My work has always had some surrealistic vibes to it,” she said. “I do inanimate objects and try to personify them.”

Castro aims to be lighthearted with her acrylic work, she said, with personified fruit, fire hydrants and streets signs the subject matter of most of her work.

Borsuk, a Santa Cruz artist, described her artistic style as “magical realism,” which complements the exhibit well.

“By the nature of that theme, I certainly fit into that category,” she said.

Most of her work is literary, she said. Her oil on wood pieces in the exhibit tell the Greek mythological folk tale of the Moirae, the goddesses of fate.

Borsuk was one of four Santa Cruz artists who was chosen as recipients of the Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship for 2010-11.

A reception will be held on March 1 from 6-8 p.m. at the bank’s Santa Cruz branch, 720 Front St. The reception is free and open to the public.